What is the best garage floor epoxy for my garage?
What is the best garage floor epoxy for my garage? Anyone who says that they can answer that question with a single product for any garage is full of it and you should run! How can I say that? Every garage is different and every individual has different needs and experience working with epoxies. While it is not technically difficult, it requires an incredible amount of effort and foresight to do an epoxy job properly.
For the Novice DIY Consumer Who Just Wants to Coat Their Floor
For years we have all talked about the importance of 100% solids epoxy products, solid prep work and a good top coat. As new technology develops and as we get more and more feedback, we are learning that this is not always the case. In fact, most first time, DIY consumers will have a much better chance for success with a high solids epoxy, such as TL707LVP as opposed to a true 100% solids product. It is much more forgiving and penetrates the concrete, creating a stronger bond. Proper preparation is still a necessity and the use of a good primer and top coat are highly recommended.
If grinding the floor sounds a bit scary to you, there is another option. Rust Bullet offers a high end Urethane Based Garage Floor Paint that has been incredibly successful coating garage, industrial and commercial floors. We have also done a ton of shop floors.
The Rust Bullet has the advantage of being easier to install and not requiring a top coat or a primer. The epoxy system, however has the advantage of being much thicker. This helps in situations where we are trying to hide flaws in concrete or joints that have not been perfectly filled. Speaking of joints, we offer a no grind flexible joint filler.
For the Experienced DIY Consumer Who Wants to Coat Their Floor
We offer TL707 100% Solids floor epoxy. It is perfect for coating the garage floor, commercial applications and many industrial applications. Surface prep, a good primer and a quality top coat will once again be key. If you want an epoxy floor that takes a little more abuse –or at least hides it — than you should consider our orange peel textured epoxy floor. This type of floor can be dressed up with a random broadcast of flakes. Some people prefer full broadcast, where the whole floor is covered in flake.
For Those Who Want The High Gloss WOW Factor Flooring — High Skill
Metallic epoxy systems are becoming very popular. We have held off for a long time in offering them to the DIY market, because they require a great amount of skill and artistic ability.
For best results the floor needs to be primed, patched and a grinder needs to be used to profile the floor. A primer coat is then installed. After the primer coat metallic pigments are mixed with a clear epoxy binder and provide a thick, high gloss surface that will be the envy of all who see it.
Because it is high gloss, you need to be incredibly careful during installation not to get dirt or dust into the mix or onto the floor. Also, you will need to do a test board before you do the whole floor. Metallic epoxy products are as much art as they are science and elbow grease.
Tough & Beautiful Floors — High Skill
A full broadcast Quartz system is among the most durable epoxy flooring systems on the market. A clear epoxy resin is applied over a primer. Then quartz is distributed over the whole floor and the floor is allowed to drive. Many people will use Mica instead of quartz. Once cured the floor is scraped and top coat is applied –often multiple coats. You end up with a floor that is rock hard.
Like all epoxy systems, grind and prime first. From there the biggest challenge is evenly distributing the broadcast material and making sure you scrape it down. We like the multi-coat system. Either two layers of urethane or one coat of clear epoxy and another of urethane. This will give a more even result. A major key though is making sure you have scraped off all excess broadcast material.
Welding & Other High Use Areas
Sometimes the best thing for these areas is not to coat them at all. The installation of a quality densifier like TL37 followed by TL40 Concrete Conditioner, is a great way to protect the floor from damage, moisture and stains, without having to worry about what you drop on it.
